Tecumseh's luck on this run is going to make him never want to leave Seattle again, or something. Anyway, the spirit was making a bee-line to AM, so Mato can easily enough intercept it. Can you take aim while running? I guess the rules don't say that you can't, so you can? (just something I'd not thought about doing before). The spirit is just barely under the surface (I've mentioned that it makes a visible hump in the water)

dodge Mato's shot: 14d6t5 2 Oh dear, the spirit got close enough to Mato to get infected with bad luck. However as you said, immunity to normal weapons is tough with what Mato has with him. Even with the +2dv or +3ap, his one net hit isn't going to stage up the damage far enough.

The next action that is apt to be taken is AM's second action pass of the turn. The spirit is about 50m from AM (close to Mato), and given their combined speeds they will get to 20m after next turn's movement. The spirit is not taking an action beyond movement at the moment. so AM can use her second action on the spirit if she wants (for that matter so can Mato, depending how he feels about using up his ammo)

Well if we use the house rule for Bullseye Burst with SMGs then the combined AP with APDS would be -7. That drops the immunity from 12 to 5, which is low enough for me to damage. That's 5 auto-hits plus 11 dice to soak. Odds are good that my 8P (7P staged up by the net hit) won't do anything but tickle it, but if it rolls poorly again I could, you know, scratch it a little.

AM would help Trouble to engage the spirit with Astral combat. (Trouble is tasked with keeping her safe so he'll go for the spirit).

Roll for AM (-4 due to sustaining spells - she really is unusable at this state with -4 for all actions.).
leadership: 6d6t5 2

Roll for Trouble:
Astral combat: 12d6t5 6

Am I right to assume that the mage is petrified now? In that case I could drop my spell and focus on taking out the Sam

Yes.

Quick phone post:

@Tecumseh I thought your point in the previous post was that Mato didn't have any AP? (I may just be really confused, but I thought he was stuck with what he'd loaded for Bellevue)

@Gilga Trouble strikes well
Defend in astral combat: 12d6t5 3 so Trouble does base 8 damage
Soak 8 damage: 6d6t5 1

Spirit takes 7 damage.

Feel free to put that into an IC. If not already covered I'll put it into one tomorrow.

Apologies for the confusion.

What I was saying is that the base AP for the cyberarm SMG itself is 0.

APDS ammo makes that -4, but the Bullseye Burst called shot doesn't affect the AP of the ammo. It acts as a multiplier for the weapon's AP, but in this case 0 x 3 = 0, so the called shot is (technically) useless for SMGs and machine pistols. A house rule suggested on the forums was an extra -1 AP per bullet, so -3 in this case. The -4 from the APDS itself plus the -3 from the house rule for Bullseye Burst would make for -7.

And then my math kicks in for the spirit's Immunity to Normal Weapons. Long story short, after accounting for auto-hits the spirit has 11 dice to soak 3P. I'll just roll it and see if I can sabotage it with my Orokos luck:

Water Spirit soak: Body 6 + Armor 12 - AP 7: 11d6t5 3 hits

So, in the end it doesn't even notice, just like Beta's IC post said.

Hmmm, I'd not actually read that move in years, so I just went back to Run & Gun to re-read "... an AP increase equal to the base AP multiplied by the number of bullets in the burst, ..."

So the question is: what does "base AP" mean? I went looking through the main book, and it doesn't seem to talk about "base AP." The AP section of the combat rules doesn't talk about various sources of AP, no mention in the main weapons sections, and in the Ammo section it says "An ammunition type's Damage Modifier and AP Modifier are added to the weapon's usual DV and AP". So I feel like "base AP" isn't a standard term meaning "the AP of the weapon."

So I read "base AP" as the AP if you were not making a triple-tap attack (in this case -4 from the APDS ammo), in which case the AP would end up being -12.

Obviously Tecumseh reads this as "base AP" = "the gun's AP". How have others read this one?

Base AP are the AP of the weapon, ammo AP are "added AP" in my reading.

Bullseye burst is one of the most important tools for mundanes to deal with spirits. For Mato it might be of interest to upgrade is inbuild weapon with the

BtB Quality: Special Modification

Cost: 5 Karma per rating (max rank 2)
Prerequisite: Mundane
It may not be the shiniest gun around, but it is yours, and you’ve put a lot of street R&D into it. Awakened folks spend time increasing their knowledge or connection to magic, but you only have your gear to rely on, and you spend your time and money making it count. Whether it was through engineering genius or illicit acquisition of bleeding-edge tech, you have turned your favorite weapon into the best jury-rigged version around. For each rating of Special Modifications, you can add either +1 damage* to the weapon, or choose two of the following (may be chosen more than once): an additional –1 to Armor Penetration, an additional +1 Accuracy, an additional 1 point of Recoil Compensation, ammo capacity increased by half the weapon’s original capacity, –1 Concealability modifier, or increase the weapon’s Reach by 1. Special modifications cannot add attributes to a weapon that it does not already possess. Due to the idiosyncratic nature of the modifications, any special modifications to a weapon can only be used by its owner (the one who paid the Karma for the Special Modification quality). If a weapon with Special Modifications is lost or destroyed, Ranks in this quality are not lost, but it requires 1 Lifestyle payment cycle to replicate the modifications on a new version of the same weapon.
Alternatively, the player may choose to alter not the numerical attributes of the weapon, but its characteristics instead. For example, a player may wish to jury-rig his flamethrower to throw “cold” instead. As long as the base statistics are the same, thematic, elemental, or other characteristic changes like this could be fun. *If damage is Strength-based, you may add or subtract 1 from base damage per rank. If there is no damage attribute, either choose another attribute to shift, or with the gamemaster’s permission, add 1 to the damage.

as well as

PROTOTYPE MATERIALS
Cost: 5 Karma
Prerequisites: Mundane and Gamemaster approval It wasn’t easy getting cutting-edge prototypes from that corporate facility, but you managed it somehow. Furthermore, you had the free imagination and resourcefulness to upgrade your trusty weapon with those parts. This quality allows the player to take another rating of the Special Modifications quality, even if they already had reached the max rating of 2. Gamemasters may allow a player to take this quality after finding data or prototypes in a research lab, as alternative payment for a run, or for similar reasons.

Back to the action:

The sam obviously rather badly does not want to become a tuna ... sadly I gave him somewhat spread out attributes so he doesn't have huge body
resist shapechange: 6d6t5 1 definitely using edge to re-roll fails
edge fails on resist: 5d6t5 2 resists the shapechange

On his next pass he'll shoot at Bobby again with a semi-automatic burst (still with penalties for range, rain, and shooting from a moving vehicle, and another -1 for accumulated recoil)
shoot Bobby (SA burst): 11d6t5 1 and since he is fighting for his life at this point, he'll edge that awful roll:
edge attack roll: 10d6t5 4
Total of 5 successes, Bobby is at -2 on the dodge for a SA burst. (DV 11P, AP-3)

Same initiative pass phase 3:
IP 3: (Trouble has 21 initiative)
Astral combat: 10d6t5 1 - I'll have him spend edge for that.

Astral combat reroll: 9d6t5 4

Assuming AM would move away from the spirit not wanting to engage in physical combat how long before she is in danger?

@Gilga: Spirit is currently about 45m away, moving 56m / turn. AM has 25m a turn move with levitate * movement. The spirit has used it'd movement for this turn, AM has not.

Alright so another 1 combat turn without melee on AM

Full Defense: 25d6t5 9
Full defense is paying off handsomely.

By my count I still have four more turns left of my attribute boost, so this will be round five of the owl-pursuit for me.

Ini: 14+4d6 33

Next round I'll try again for the Ork - and go full defense while closing the distance.
Shapechange F6: 15d6t5 4

Still tuna to force a Catch 22 on him.
Resist Drain: 14d6t5 5
No Drain

resist shapechange: 6d6t5 1 Ack, tuna on try two

defend in astral combat: 10d6t5 3
soak: 6d6t5 2 which knocks out the water spirit

And for general interest, should the mage currently be a calcified squid or a calcified human? That is, would the petrification spell have held it in squid form, or would the body have gone from calcified squid to calcified human once Bobby dropped his spell? I'm probably overthinking it as I don't see anything rule wise that would prevent it from changing back to human shape, but it just feels odd.

@Jack
Those qualities are excellent suggestions. I'm adding those to the To Do list.

@Beta
I'm not sure Mato has much to do at the moment so I'll have him sprint, which is what makes the most sense ICly.

That said, Mato actually sucks at sprinting (since it's based on Strength and his Strength is middling) and I don't think it will actually make any difference as far as which turn he gets there, so I'm not going to roll it out. I'll buy a hit if it's needed for something.

Interesting question about the form of the mage. You're right that it's not clear. I would go with a petrified jellyfish.

@Beta fog of pbp so I am not sure if AM can see Bernt, but if she can it may be a good time to try and take him out before the boat crushes or something bad happens so she'll do the levitation.

If she cannot see him, I'll edit my post and have her continue to chase the boat, and perhaps send the cat to interfere.

Edit: I changed the IC to say that the levitation would only happen if she has a line of sight.

AM is still maybe 400m away, but there is still a flashlight rolling around in the boat, throwing enough light that when Brent stood up she could see him in time to grab him with the spell.

The situation of levitating someone who is tied to a heavier weight is interesting. I didn't feel that a bit of rope was substantial enough to make Brent and the raft all one thing, so the levitate works. But only until the rope is tight. The question then is how well AM could drag the raft against the current and the push of the motor? A lot of successes on the cast iirc, so the spell has a chance, but I'm thinking maybe it reduces the speed of the raft by the levitate speed? Other thoughts on how that might work?

Technically it all depends on net successes.
With a 100kg per success It's like a person of that mass is holding on to the boat.

Before I post my solution to this situation:
If I turn Brent into a turtle, will he have the sense to tuck in his heads and legs, so he ist injured by the slipping by vest?

There are a few things going on here, some variables that would help figure out what happens next:

1) The tensile strength of the rope that connects Brent to the boat. Is it strong enough to bear the weight of the boat? Or is it just something they improvised, like a belt or a bungee cord? Would the fasteners/knots hold under pressure or would they buckle?
2) How Brent is tied up and how he's tied to the boat. Is he just connected at the wrists? Or is he bundled up in rope and tied down like a lady on the train tracks? Presumably not if he was able to stand up, but I'm not sure we know.

This matters because it determines how the force is distributed over Brent's body. If he's just tied up at the wrists and then levitated, and the rope is strong enough, then there's a danger of yanking his joins out of their sockets as his body becomes responsible for bearing the weight of the boat and having it all concentrated on a limited surface area. I'm sure he'd yelp and tell AM to stop, which she would, but it could lead to some RP consequences.

But AM could 'pull' him in a different direction, e.g. parallel to the land instead of straight up. That would keep the weight of the boat on the river and would limit the forces applied to Brent's bonds. Then we'd just be eyeballing the forces required, as to whether that would actually stop the boat or if it could even be dragged upstream a little. Mostly for narrative purposes at that point, I would imagine.

The team hasn't seen detail yet, but Brent is in a five point harness (waist belt, straps over the shoulders and between the legs) with a metal buckle in the middle, to which is attached a pretty sturdy nylon strap going through a metal buckle. At the other end of the strap it is going through another buckle on the raft. The whole thing is literally designed to be able to pull him up out of the water should he fall in, so it isn't designed to either come off easily or be broken easily. It is certainly rated for much more than Brent's weight.

Moving the raft could have advantages. Right now it is right by the point where the water moves from fast but flat to a turbulent flow of white water. Mato would need to skate carefully around there to not end up on the poorer footing of the white water, so dragging it even a little upstream would help in that regard. Or it could maybe be dragged across the river to either bank.

That leaves the question about just transforming him for quick release ( see above)

Well I think you could transform him into something small to help him slip the bonds. But if you're relying on Brent's presence of mind to accomplish anything then we probably don't know what the results will be ICly until we try it. Perhaps AM could talk him through it but I imagine it would be fairly alarming for a teenager. You'd probably have the most luck with a small hominid, like a chimpanzee or a bonobo, something with arms and legs and vaguely bipedal locomotion.

I can imagine it being terrifying and being drugged may make him less balanced than usual. Not sure we can count on his cooperation under such circumstances. Beta did not even IC him as trying to unbuckle the rope on his side - he is perhaps panicking already just from being hung in midair by magic.

Beta didn't say as much, but I imagine than Brent's hands are bound. At least, I would bind them if I were a kidnapper.

Fair enough - a sturdy small animal will likely be best, because once the aztec spirit gets the idea to dispell the petrified mage, we are in deep drek.

This has color but no punctuation. Is this directed at Mato? If so, I'm not sure if it's a joke ("wouldn't you rather be there") or a suggestion ("don't go downstream").

I don't think Mato can navigate the boat upstream. Maybe AM could do her magic carpet ride with the boat + Levitation (which would be pretty slow), but otherwise I think we have to go downstream to get out of the stretch of river between the Aztecs and the Salish military. Then we can go back to retrieve the car, either via Bobby flying or Mato running with his skimmers. Or can we give the car remote commands to come find us? There might not be enough of a grid to enable that.

It was a suggestion to try and get back how we got there.

Well, the raft is floating away now, so they'll have to figure something out

And yes, Brent's hand's were is plastic restraints, sorry I forgot to mention that. Part of why they had him so securely strapped up, if he fell in he couldn't do much to save himself. But now he doesn't have to worry about the restraints around his hands. Or for that matter about hands.

A quick narrative note: I'm not going to have a force 9 spirit just trash the team for giggles, even if Trouble doesn't go and 'play' with it. It is right at the edge of its orders and can't just unleash its powers, no matter how bored it is. But it can make life more difficult.

It was logical for Brent's hands to be restrained, and it was logical for him to be on a tether in case he fell overboard.

I think the Aztec spirit has been a good boundary so far. A complicating factor that you can't just address with force. It's a creative constraint. I think it's been fair.

Speaking of constraints, it sounds like Brent is now free of his bonds and so the boat is no longer being dragged backwards.

If I understand it correctly, Mato's skimmers-on-the-water plan may be complicated by some of the upcoming white water, is that correct?

How close is Mato to the boat at this point?

For maximum fun, let's say that Mato has closed to within "one last sprint" distance of the raft, and of course the raft is just starting to move, so a dash and a dive (and really try not to miss ...). He could also run across the last of the 'flat' water to the point that the river is going around and try racing along the solid ground there to get ahead of the raft by the time it gets past the white water. But again the risk of sensors and sensitivity from the military base.

Mato likely doesn't know how white water would work with his skimmers, but he can guess that it is "less solid" than flat water, so may not support him as well. Would it support him enough? He'd have to run some experiments to find out.

Well Mato has Gymnastics (Leaping) and he never gets to use it, so let's try it out here.

He also has Hydraulic Jacks, but those won't work on the water unless there's a rock or some other outcropping he could use to plant his feet on. I'll roll without them, putting myself at the mercy of Orokos.

Jump: Agility 10 + Gymnastics 1 + Leaping specialization 2: 13d6t5 3 hits

Still have trouble catching a break from Orokos. I'll IC post after Beta tells me if I have a dry or a wet landing. Of course, even a "dry" landing would plop me on top of a flopping tuna, so I suppose that's a complication of its own.

I was thinking a threshold of three for just making it, so perhaps he has his legs dangling in the water as he lands, but he has a secure enough grip and can pull himself in easily enough.

That sounds fair. I'll work with that.

What's the boat made out of, what material?

Did we leave the Tuna and jellyfish on the boat?

Mato's IC post has him dumping the tuna and jellyfish over the side of the boat.

@Beta Not sure about the construction of the boat (inflatable vs. aluminum, etc.) or the strength of the motor. Nor am I sure about the speed of the river or the white water sections. Is it feasible for the boat to go upstream or are there too many drops for something like that?

The boat is a raft, but the kind that has a more U-shaped tube with board across the gap, on which an engine can be mounted. The engine is small and quite quiet (an electric fishing motor, less powerful than such rafts often carry)

Matrix noise to the world is currently -2 for sparse devices and another -2 for Brent's matrix scream (looks like he has learned a new complex form! Shame how he is using it).

If it's an electric motor then I'm guessing it's fairly easy to operate. We'll see if the dice roll agrees:

I'll default on a Pilot Watercraft roll: Reaction 8 - Defaulting 1: 7d6t5 1 hit

Man, dangerously close to a glitch. Just can't catch a break with Orokos. I'm 43 for 172 (25%) over the last six weeks, which means I'm missing 14 hits over that span. Of the 16 rolls, 2 have been more than 33% hits, 1 was right at 33%, and the other 13 were below 33% hits.

I've had stretches like this before. Guess this just isn't my chapter.

Mato is clearly not wild enough for the Wild Orc Ranch! (But seriously, the sort of run of bad luck is miserable.)

With that roll Mato isn't getting control of the raft with the motor. I'll add a quick IC.

Maybe Bobby can Analyze Device it.

I'll try - also probably a good idea to turn Brent back before he goes catatonic

Mato and Bobby had both been quite busy since arriving in the raft/boat, and neither has deliberately scanned it yet, which is why the wire wasn't noticed until now.

Null persp. It's the middle of the night and probably pretty damn dark, even for low-light vision. I doubt thermographic would be much better. I'm sure a thin wire could easily escape notice for a while, especially when distracted.

Are we all together in the boat now? I'm a bit lost about how successful Bobby has been with the motor and whether AM has been able to catch up or not.

Did Brent transform back? Is he naked and screaming? Mato has a tranq patch if necessary.

Brent should be back to human and with Bobby in the boat - screaming is likely, the rest is up to beta

Darn, I forgot something in last night's IC -- yes after a few seconds of writhing around, Brent seemed to realize that he was back to being human, and switched from screaming in the matrix to screaming in the meat-world. Also backing to the far end of the boat from people.

@Gilga: you narrated catching up and I decided to just go with it. Not sure that the speeds/times really lined up, but I'd rather have everyone together and there was nothing in any of the IC that argued otherwise. So four of you in the raft (It isn't crowded, but moderately full)

@Mato: there are two (somewhat complicated looking) personal flotation jackets in the raft, that came off the tuna and the squid, and Brent's is in the river attached to a few meters of tether.

==========================

What is new: you are under fire
Shoot the raft: 8d6t5 2

I completely hashed my posting, putting my OOC in the IC thread and my IC post here, which I think confused gilga immediately below. I'll put my correct/amended OOC post gilga's.

AM only has 1 action, after taking -5 to drop prone.
Initiative: 10+1d6 11

She'll perform an observe detail action to identify the shooter, and a quick draw action to draw her weapon and fire. My intention was to take a long burst (simple) for -5 to defend.

observe in detail: 8d6t5 3
She takes aim and fires a long burst simple -5 to defend.
fire back: 11d6t5 7

I did not account for range because I did not it. Will do something different if she is out of range.
Damage is 8P -1AP Walter + HE bullets given by Mato.

@Gilga, I messed you up by posting my IC post in the OOC channel above. I think that threw you off.

We might have some range issues with your pistol, depending on how far away the target is and what the environmental modifiers are. But at least you can lose 2 dice to the suppressive fire penalty without losing any hits.

What my OOC post should have said was that Mato was going to do the following:

IP1
Simple: Observe in Detail (locate ork's rifle)
Simple: Ready Weapon (pick up ork's rifle)

IP2
Simple: Observe in Detail (locate source of shooting)
Simple: Return Fire

But with 7 hits AM might beat Mato to it.

Oh, and here was my dodge roll for the suppressive fire: Reaction 5 ( + Edge 6: 14d6t5 4 hits, dodged

Let's see how it resolves. Dice gods are in a generous mood.
Oh -2 to all actions, from suppressive fire!
Well, I'll wait for clarification on range see how it resolves.

Now let's think what would Trouble do:
Initiative: 10+3d6 19

if it is a person foe he'll use the accident power for some bad luck.
accident power: 10d6t5 2